I think we owe a whole lot of gratitude to whoever invented the wheel.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of fire, but no one really invented fire.

Some Neanderthal somewhere, back in the day, was probably caught in a grass fire or saw an old dead tree get struck by lightning and used one of the burning sticks to start the very first campfire. It was just dumb luck – a total fluke!

I do wonder how he brought it home though. Did he make a trail of campfires all the way back to the cave?

And once the fire was burning at the cave, did the clan hire a Keep-the-Fire-Burning technician? And what happened to the KTFB technician if he let the fire go out?

Did it result in banishment? Would he have to scour the land for another lightning storm or grass fire?

Or did he figure out how to start a fire with sticks? Discover flint? Or simply pick up a Bic at the 7-11 on the way to the yearly clan gathering?

And once fires really caught on (Did you catch that clever pun?), did clan women complain that their men were watching fire for hours on end instead of hunting for food?

Did it cause a bunch of collisions because teenagers were running around all willy-nilly with burning sticks, mesmerized by the fire and not paying attention to where they were going?

And once they figured out smoke signals, did they become fat and lazy because they no longer ran to the next cave to deliver messages in person?

Is that when the anti-social trend actually started and face-to-face conversation began its decline?

Anyway, I digress.

“You don’t need wheels when you got legs,” said no one ever!

I want to talk about the GENIUS who invented the wheel. Although fire brought creature comforts like S’mores to the clan, it did not open up a world of possibilities like the wheel did.

Up until the invention of the wheel, travel took a lot longer, demanded a lot more physical strength and if you had to move a lot of stuff, multiple trips were necessary.

Sure the taming of horses and dogs and getting them to drag around a travois was helpful, but still not as magnificent as the wheel.

Yes, the invention of the wheel put our ancestors in motion. The Age of Serious Travel began that day. And unlike the day before, one could now bring more than just their carry-on luggage.

Wagons with two wheels could carry gifts for the tens of new people they would meet on their journey. Travellers could bring all their clothes and save themselves the trouble of finding a river to wash their laundry along the way. Heck they could pretty much bring any little thing their hearts desired!

Yes life was good now, and all thanks to the genius who invented the wheel!

Unlike the so-called Fire Inventor, who we previously established a mere opportunist at best, the Wheel Inventor did not have the benefit of a natural disaster that resulted in wheels dropping into his lap. So how, exactly, did the Wheel Inventor come up with the wheel?

Did it come to him/her in a prophetic dream or vision of a boulder rolling down the side of a mountain and as it did, pieces chipped off and formed a wheel?

Or did it occur to the pimply teenager who collided into clan members while watching his stupid burning stick, as he scrambled to remain balanced like a beachcomber on the rolling beer barrel he was delivering to the ‘successful hunting party’ celebration in the field by the lake?

I guess we’ll never know for sure, but one thing is certain, I think we owe a whole lot of gratitude to whoever invented the wheel!

I think momma nature invented both fire and the wheel. Exactly as you suggested: logs. They roll around so nicely, and many ancient cultures figured out they could move heavy things by rolling them over logs.

But logs were a pain, because you always had to hire a bunch of guys to constantly move the logs from the rear to the front. (I think some of the Three Stooges’ routines were born of such antics.)

So some clever wag (or possibly his wife) thought, “If only there was some way to keep the logs in one spot…”

Ha ha, Diana, a delightful post today! Have you seen the movie Quest for Fire? if it happened that way, some of your questions would have answers. 🙂

I agree the wheel was an all-important invention, but lately folks are driving everywhere, even to the store that is in walking distance, and dropping their kids at school when they could make it their daily walk like I did as a child. Part of the obesity problem – too much of a good thing.

I did see Quest for Fire a long time ago! I agree Jennifer, people drive when they should be walking. Once while visiting in the USA, I came across a town that was constructing sidewalks to encourage walking! Can you believe it?
Diana xo

Oh how I agree with you… it is alright for those that live in countries with snow almost all year round that can move about on sleights or skis.. what about us poor buggers that would have to lug all we have on our backs as skis wouldn’t help us much here… but now when I come to think about it how was the humble ski invented… was some poor woman walking along and stood on a flatish stick that had a smooth side and fell flat on her backside.. and some youth though AAAhhaa put one of those on each foot and I can slide down the side of a mountain at a dangerous speed and even start races of the same… yes the humble wheel is a little more difficult to establish how some one came up with that idea… it is even difficult to think of the circumstances when the globe lit above someones head and he said… I see a wheel and we will call it a wheel and it will roll and forever keep rolling and in the future we will line the outer side with rubber so that we can get a revenue from replacing that rubber… I could go on forever, but now I’m hijacking you post sorry… (old Fart getting carried away again)